WELSH Conservative leader Nick Bourne may not be Deputy First Minister – but Leader of the Opposition is a grand consolation prize.

The new role brings a top-up of £39,939 to his basic AM’s salary of £46,496.

The Tories’ new status as the largest opposition group in the National Assembly means they will gain new resources and more airtime.

But more importantly, they can position themselves as a credible alternative to Labour and Plaid – a confidently Welsh party bound by neither left-wing nor Thatcherite ideology.

The fact that a majority of Plaid AMs were willing to negotiate the All-Wales Accord with the Tories signals that the right-of-centre party is no longer beyond the pale for people who see their primary identity as Welsh.

Conservatives yesterday pledged that Plaid supporters unhappy with the party’s deal with Labour would find a “comfortable home” in the Conservative Party.

Assembly leader Nick Bourne said, “They will see that the Welsh Conservative party has changed and continues to change. This is work in progress.”

He continued, “We are a very comfortable home for Plaid Cymru [supporters] on rural issues, on cultural issues, on the language, and many other areas as well, and I’m sure that will not have escaped a lot of people who will, indeed, feel let down that there isn’t an All-Wales Accord that would make a real difference to the people of Wales.”

Strong opposition within Plaid’s Assembly group to any deal which would have brought the Conservatives back into power, was a key reason why the party formed a coalition with Labour instead.

Adam Price, Plaid MP for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr, argues Plaid and Labour share a common heritage in the “Welsh radical tradition”.